News

Men’s Soccer Tops Adrian 2-1 on Road - Win Streak Now at Four

Saturday, September 28, 2013

ADRIAN - The Calvin men’s soccer team traveled to Adrian on Saturday in a matchup of the top two teams in the MIAA. Both teams entered the contest at 2-0 in conference play. The Knights were 1-0-3 at Adrian the past four years, but with a pair of first half goals and strong defense, Calvin claimed its second win in five years at Performance Stadium.

The Knights were first to find the back of the net. Junior Travis Vegter continued his torrid scoring pace in the first half, taking a pass from sophomore Taylor Pruis and burying it in the back of the net, giving Calvin the 1-0 lead. The goal was the 12th of the year for Vegter.

Calvin increased its lead in the 39th minute as junior Sean Broekhuizen scored his first goal of the season to give the Knights a 2-0 advantage, which they would take into halftime.

Calvin displayed a stout defense in the first half, allowing only one shot by the Bulldogs. The Knights offense, on the other hand, totaled 13 shots.

In the second half, Adrian found its offense, and in the 53rd minute, cut Calvin’s lead to 2-1 as senior Nick Minshall beat Knights junior keeper Andrew Claucherty for the goal.

In the 73rd minute, Adrian had another great opportunity on net. Breaking behind the defense, a punt from the Bulldogs keeper bounced over the heads of the Calvin defense and in front of Minshall. Running toward the top of the box, Minshall just put a foot on the ball before Claucherty came off his line. Fortunately for the Knights, Minshall’s shot bounced wide of net and the score remained 2-1.

Despite chances on either end over the final 20 minutes, Calvin held the one goal advantage for the remainder of the contest, claiming the 2-1 victory.

“Adrian’s a tough place to play: it was hot, a tough style of play, they use home field really well,” said head coach Ryan Souders. “We didn’t play fantastic in the second half, but we did what we needed to get the win, and what really matters is the three points and I’m proud of the guys for getting those.”

Calvin is now 4-3-0 overall and 3-0-0 in conference play while Adrian drops 4-3-2 overall and 2-1-0 in the MIAA.

The Knights will next be in action on Tuesday when they travel to Olivet to face the Comets, with the match starting at 4 p.m.